Help hair shedding fast out of no where.?

hello all, Im here to find help on why in the past month my hair is suddenly shedding. I try not to comb or brush, if I do its with a large comb for wet hair. If I pulled like the CTE test I have about 10 every time. Not the normal 1-3 as Ive read. My hair was long , to lower back . I just had it cut to my shoulders because I didnt know what else to do. I thought maybe it looks worse then it is because its long hairs in a mass when I look at whats in my hand or drain. Wrong. I do notice that the hair shedding has the bulb or root still if that matters? I just cant figure out whats different to cause this. I'm afraid to wash or touch it literaly.
Age 42 within past yr dry damaged hair root to ends, and lots of shedding.
my check list:
*chlorinated city water for years.. so no change there
*diet with lots of fresh veggies/fruit meat, chicken, also tons of sugar as I could live on sweats is that a maybe?
*excersize or lack there of is the same
*stress alot daily but no change in amount or my reaction to it
*coloring my hair every 3 months aprox for this past year,with drug store products ???
Medications, yes but they are the same meds I have been on for many years
however I did stop taking 1 drug this year,that I had been taking for many years??????? I'll get into those later if need be for now I'll leave out the specifics. As it's never been listed as a problem drug yet
* menopause ,nothing different that would make me think I am entering it
Please help I know you may very well all have worse problems but this is new and feels like out of no where. What tests should I have run on my blood etc that may help? I know my body must be telling me something is wrong.
Any other help/ chat would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much. I'll be waiting to hear from all of you here in the community.

Hi Another Perk

Dear anotherperk,

Hair loss at any age is horrible. Plain and simple. I started losing my hair at 21 (I'm 30 now) and at the risk of sounding a tad pessimistic, over the years I've found the only thing predictable about female hair loss is that it is unpredictable. Everyone is so different and apparently there are quite a number of things that can kick in androgenetic alopecia in a women, including just age.

Of course I am not a doctor and cannot provide medical advice, I'm only sharing what I've learned and what I've heard from other women over the last year and half. Unfortunately, there isn't always an answer, that one thing we can point to on a paper and go "AH HA" that's the culprit. Many women run themselves ragged from doctor to doctor in search of someone who will just *listen* to them and help figure out the problem.

Above all I do think a proper diagnosis is key. What type of hair loss is it? It cannot be treated it if you don't know what it is. Luckily there are a few things women with androgenetic alopecia can use to help combat their hair loss. Aldactone (spironolactone), Rogaine and also at times some doctors prescribe a low androgen birth control pill. I have mixed feelings on that since the birth control pill can also be the cause of hair loss in some women. Confusing isn't it ?

It isn't all doom and gloom, I have heard several positive stories of regrowth and a full return to the way it was before, back in the good ole carefree hair days. Many women experience post partum hair loss (most recently my sister in law) and six months to a year later the hair loss stops and starts regrowing back. For some women apparently the hormone shift that occurs after having a baby can also kick in androgenetic alopecia. Again, everyone is different.

I think it's important to keep a positive outlook. And while most women don't like to hear the W word.. WIG, there are some pretty amazing options available today. Please check out Misty's album: http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/album.php?albumid=25 to see how natural wigs can look when done right.

First step for sure, find an doctor who is willing to listen to you concerns and perform the needed tests to help determine 1) what might be causing the hair loss and 2 ) what type of hair loss it is.

I can't really comment definitively on the things you posted that you feel *might* be a cause for hair loss, but I'm guessing that the diet, exercise, hair coloring and chlorinated water probably doesn't have much to do with it. Perimenopause, could certainly be a cause and perhaps and existing medication *could* be running a muck and no longer agreeing with your body. Again, this is just my opinion, I'm not a doctor so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.

Don't be afraid to wash our touch your hair, honestly, the hair that is planning on falling is gonna fall eventually shower or no shower, so might as well feel nice and clean. I do know what a torture it can be though. I used to like to really torture myself by actually using a shower drain hair catcher so I could count all the hair lost in the drain and in the comb. What was the point of that? Hair loss makes us do wacky things. There have been times when I have easily lost 400+ hairs a day. In truth, I still count at times, I guess it's a way of sort of gauging how my shedding is doing. I have ditched the shower drain hair catcher though.